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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I do not often write about particular designs on my blog but when I saw this video today I felt the urge to do so. The design is to me a wonderful example of a design composition that manifests many different aspects of interaction design. The design is all about the confluence of the physical and the digital, about embodied and tangible design. It is an excellent example of how a design creates a space of possible actions (a concept I have developed elsewhere). And also what inscription might look like in the meaning of Bruno Latour. The design shows that when design is cared for and the user is considered -- a great design can follow. Take a look!

Thursday, February 09, 2012

Since about a year back there is a new journal devoted to the field of philosophy of technology. It is called "Philosophy & Technology" and is published by Springer. This is really a good sign and hopefully it might lead to more outlets for work in this area. Another place where it was possible to find philosophy of technology articles--Techne-- has moved and I just got this information from the journal.

"Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology is indeed still publishing and remains the official journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT). It has been moved from the publisher Ejournals to the Philosophy Documentation Center.A link to the PDC Techne page is here: http://secure.pdcnet.org/techne"

So, now there are two journal in the field that publishes high quality papers on philosophy in technology. Looking forward to many exiting readings in this new journal. I have already found some exciting articles by for instance Borgmann and another by Vaccari.

Friday, February 03, 2012

I just got a copy of the book "Universal Methods of Design" by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington. It is a book that presents a collection of 100 design methods. Each method is presented in brief and clear way on two pages with great images and graphics. Each methods is categorized in a straightforward and simple way for when during the design process it might fit and for what aspect of design. The explanations of each method are short, to the point and instructive. I find this to be an excellent handbook of design methods. The authors takes a great position in relation to methods. They write

"Consider these 100 methods and techniques just as means to get to a better design, rather than ends in and of themselves. Review them, try them, prioritize them, and sequence them based on the success criteria and focus of problems you want to solve. Treat them as conversations. We have." (page 7)

This is an excellent approach. Methods are only means to an end, they are to be used intentionally. Measure of success are to be constructed by the user of the method. It forces each method user to take responsibility for the choice of methods. It is all good. Recommended!

About Me

Professor and Senior Executive Associate Dean at the School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. I am also affiliated with Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University, Sweden.